Thursday, May 14, 2009

Nasturtiums

I have fond memories of playing in a field of nasturtiums in a canyon at the back of a childhood home. The carpet of the plant was so thick you couldn't see your feet when you looked down.It really made us feel like we were out in the wild somewhere, even though all we had to do was turn around to see home. The smell of the plant filled the air of that tiny canyon. It was not a lovely, captivating, flowery smell, mind you. It was more of a simple, but curious 'plant' smell.

Each spring after some rain you see nasturtiums pop up and grow like crazy for a while. By late summer they seem to all but disappear. As a child, I didn't know that I could have snacked on the plant - nothing about the smell was inviting me to taste it. But lately, I've taken to putting a couple at the top of my home made spring rolls, for a little pretty touch, and a small, peppery bite.

That looks like Lantana the Nastyturiums are intwined with. I do know the smell you mean because every year my neighbors would drop corms onto my side of the fence and I'd be pulling them out (after their blossom period of course) so that they didn't take over the rest of the yerd. They are very easy to pull out, thankfully. Unlike the also invasive Morning Glory or Blackberry. Really BEAUTIFUL photo.We started calling them Nasty Sturtiums when I used them in a salad for color and my daughter reported they were too nasty to eat and picked them out. :-)-Kim